https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh Children are complicated and they have 100 hundred languages that we might not be knowing of. In the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, children are encouraged to explore and investigate everything around them, in the outside world to express themselves through all of their languages (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 2011). Some of the languages that belong to children are drawing, painting, shadow play, music, dramatic play, spoken languages and so on (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 2011). With these languages, they speak to the world, speak about the world in both imaginative and relational ways (Pelo, 2016). With the language of arts, children are more free to express their ideas, thoughts and emotions that words are unable to. They are complex and often overlooked as the idea of excelling in academics is the only important mark that has been embedded in the education industry for far too long. In this journal, I have noted some of the languages of children that I find fascinating about which will be applied in my pedagogy in the future. en-us 2023-05-22 03:01:40 UTC 2023-05-22 11:07:17 UTC hello@padlet.com joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599412064 The initial idea was to test out how many possible shapes and movements of the paper I could created with different types of paper materials which I gathered around the house with in 5 minutes. The products came out exceeded my expectation as I had underestimated how versatile paper was. With the thick and hard cardboard, I dipped one half in cold water and the other half was shredded into small pieces and rolled in different shapes. Meanwhile, I cut the A4 paper unintentionally and rolled it into a pipe shape. Lastly, I scrunched the hand towels and bended the small piece of thick paper into a random curve. The final step was I sticked all of the small details onto the big cardboard which showcased different shapes and curves of the paper. 

It is undeniable that we usually see paper as a space which contains our messages, paintings or stories, but when it finishes fulfilling our purposes, we tend to throw them away and do not notice that paper moves and has its own story (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, 2016). If in early childhood, the term "material" is most likely to related to "making", then the encounter between children and paper opens the door of endless creativity and imagination as paper is in motion at all time. Under children's influences, paper moves with various rhythm and intensity (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, 2016). And each movement definitely delivers different messages from children. 

From this experiment, an activity that children can engage with is A Paper Experimentation. For this activity, we will try to recycle all kinds of paper in the household as well as tools such as Water, Glue, Water Color so that children can implement their exploration of paper and other elements. This activity allows children to play freely which maximise their imagination and creativity. I believe this session is an opportunity for children to express their thought and persona through an artistic lens.]]> 2023-05-22 03:54:29 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599412064 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599492311 I headed my way to Collingwood Library which is only 15 minutes away from my house. It was a weekday morning so the library was not very filled up. It does not take me long to find the children book section as that area looks more colourful than usual. Most of the book are picture books with their cover was facing out so that they can catches more attention. I randomly picked 4 books and this is the one that left me the strongest impression - Hello and Welcome by Gregg Dreise. The book's content was about the Aboriginal culture which is not only explained by its content but also by the images in the book. The colours in the book was different shades of orange, brown, blue and green which represents the elements in nature which plays an important role in cultural life of Indigenous People. The images of traditional dances, the aboriginal languages are strongly used in the book which broaden the knowledge of children about the aspect of history of Australia which they need to be educated and remembered. 

It has always been a known thing that Art and culture are strongly tied with each other. The Arts are forms of expression and communication which is personal to every country and culture ( Roy, Baker & Hamilton, 2015). Any mean of visual arts including photo, picture or painting is communicating in a non-linguistic ways through symbols and metaphor (Roy, Baker & Hamilton, 2015). They delivers the message that words alone can hardly explain. Hence, with the understanding of the Arts as a crucial language, including art element in curriculum in early childhood education not only let children express themselves but also educate them to national cultures and customs efficiently.

Thinking of combining art education and raising cultural awareness about Indigenous and Aboriginal People, I have come up with this activity where I will be story-telling this book. At the same time, I will introduce them the Aboriginal languages and traditional dances in this book so that they are step-by-step exposed to this important aspect in Australian history.

]]> 2023-05-22 05:04:48 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599492311 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599545173 When I was a child in Vietnam, every summer, one of the activity that I always expected was electricity cut-off. It might sounds abnormal at first but those nights with no electricity was one of the most fun nights in my childhood. In the night like that, every house hold lighted up their candle and waited for the electricity turning back. At the mean time, us children in the neighbour hood sneakily lighted one of two candles in front of our doors and did shadow play with these candles. We tried to be as creative as possible by doing various shapes with our hands in front of the candles so that when we looked at the wall behind us, there were a dog, a rabbit and other animals created by our hands playing with each other. It was such a simple activity but for us at that time, it was a pleasure and satisfaction when you can created new shapes with your fingers and under the candlelight, it was some other animals that you adored so much.

Surprisingly, this simple activity for children is no longer strange to researchers who have been studied about Reggio Emilia curriculum. While it has been believed that children have 100 languages to express their thoughts and ideas, Reggio Emilia approach proposes that freedom and experiment are crucial in children's intellectual development (Mahshulah, Syaodih & Rachmawati, 2020). Therefore, Ray of Light Atelier by Loris Malaguzzi is created as one of the activity that can stimulate children's creativity as well as allow children to explore various form of light. It is believed that this way of harnessing light can develop children's critical thinking skills, creativity and social skills. 

An activity that children can engage to is the shadow play with table light. While using an actual candle in classroom setting can be a hazard to children, table light is a much safe alternative. In this session, teacher will turn off the lighting in the classroom and turn on the small table light, teacher will do some examples such as a dog or a cat shape then allow children to play freely and created their own shapes and animals with their hands or other body parts.


]]> 2023-05-22 05:44:49 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599545173 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599591767 One afternoon while I was walking in the park, it was a sunset time and there were quite a lot of young family brought their children out to the park before dinner time. I caught a scene where two children (friends as they seemed to me) did a role play of two explorers in the forest trying to find a treasures. I could not follow the story line between them but it reminded me the time when I was a young girl, maybe four or five years old, imaginative role play was my utter favourite activity. I could play a drama by myself, but the most fun time was when my cousin came over and played with me. I could not remember the script or what was the role play was about, but they were all made up by our imagination. Somedays, we were princesses whose dresses made by blankets in our bedroom  fought for our country, some other days we were super heroes who defeated the villains. Now, thinking back to those days, we really had fun just by ourselves. 

It was once said by Mage in 2018 that pretend play is a great activity for children to imagine, explore as well as discuss about possibilities in real life. Not only that, educational drama and theatre promote opportunities for children to engage more with languages in a friendly environment (Mage, 2018). In drama play, it is where children can practice their language, literacy, perspective-talking as well as imagination (mage, 2018).

Children under the instruction of teacher can implement a dramatic play. The script can be either based on any books or made-up stories by teachers or children. The activity can be planned ahead and introduced as a high-light of the week. Teacher or educators will preparing the script for children ( example in the photo above), read the script and let the children practice. This is not only an activity can improve a child's literacy skill but also their team-work and social skills as well. ]]> 2023-05-22 06:21:44 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599591767 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599647123 When I was a child, and even up until now, I would never considered myself as a good drawer or painter. When we first learnt how to draw a house, a flower or a bird, my drawing was nether the one that looked similar to my teacher's example nor the one was complimented in front of the class. During my primary and secondary years, the Arts, specifically drawing, was compulsory in my school's curriculum. If it were not for my brother's support and tutoring, I would never have passed the this subject. However, for the last three weeks of learning and studying this unit, I have come to understand that every child is an artist and every piece of Arts such as drawing or painting is all unique, has its own beauty and reflects a different artistic persona. 

As we have been exposed in this unit, Malaguzzi's idea of "Atelier" room where it was more than an art room for children but a space of transformation, constructions and visual expressions (Gandini et al, 2015). "Atelier" within the curriculum opens up another door for children to learn, not only words and numeracy but more of an expressive education. An approach of "Atelier" is about children experimenting with various tools, techniques and materials and favouring children's logics and creativity (Gandini et al, 2015).

One of the most accessible practice for children in early childhood setting is letting them paint and draw freely without telling them which is good or bad. The painting session can be done almost everyday in childcare centre. The preparation can not be easier with some loose parts such as stones, strings, leaves, etc so that children can use them as a tool in drawing. The more loose parts we have, the more creative children can be. Of course, plain paper, various types of paint and mediums such as water colour, acrylic and brushes are encouraged for more successful session.

]]> 2023-05-22 07:02:47 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599647123 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599687239 My family in Vietnam used to gather few times a year for any important holiday. Most of my cousins have their own families and children which leads to the situation when our family got together, there are five to six tiny people (my nieces and nephews) running around the house and playing with each other. However, the only one thing which can catch all of their attention at once is when I play any popular children song. It was surprise when a second ago, they are all playing and running, but once the music was turned on, all of them slowly gather at one place, move their bodies following the rhythms of the songs, mumble to its lyrics. "Music is so powerful" I said that to myself at that time. 

Music and movement is one of the important aspects in the Reggio Emilia pedagogy. Besides dramatic play, painting, shadow play and sensory play, music is also considered as a language of children when they want to convey or deliver a message. Even when they were born, children all have the ability and interest to create music with their voices and instrument and children even harness movement and dramatisation to embody their music-making ( Hanna, 2017). However, most of the time, children's capability of music is underestimated while children's engagement with music without adult interference always contains complicated expressions of children's understanding to the outside world (Hanna, 2017).

Embedding music into daily practice in early childhood setting is not a difficult approach. Teachers can use the recycled and natural loose parts as instruments for children to make their music. The session can be implemented within 30 minutes or 1 hour then children can get on stage and perform their song or melody. Adult's interference is strongly avoided as this activity should be a safe place for children to maximise their creativity. ]]> 2023-05-22 07:34:03 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599687239 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599821501 It has been an eye-wide opening opportunity to dive deep down to the theme of The 100 languages of Children in Early Childhood Education. Children do not only communicate through spoken language, but also through their arts language such as encountering with paper, shadow play, drawing, drama play, music or story-telling. Because children has their own various ways to communicate with the world, us as educators need to fulfil our different roles within childcare setting. We need to be a researcher, a creator of the environment, a guild in fostering exchange and community so that children can flourish the best as they can and reach their potential ( Edwards & Gandini, 2015). As children talk to us in their 100 languages, teachers need to be able to detect and listen to their students in 100 different ways so that we understand their needs, thoughts, ideas and feelings.]]> 2023-05-22 09:28:23 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599821501 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599834070 2023-05-22 09:40:55 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599834070 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599856012 2023-05-22 10:02:31 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599856012 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599872496 2023-05-22 10:19:44 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599872496 joycenguyen1004 https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599888544 2023-05-22 10:37:28 UTC https://padlet.com/joycenguyen1004/o1ujx191w6nvrpzh/wish/2599888544